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"Bridegroom Village and the Nobles" (花ムコ村と貴族たち Hanamuko-mura to kizokutachi), a pun on Niimi Nankichi's story "Hananoki Village and the Thieves." (花のき村と盗人たち Hananoki-mura to mesutotachi).

First published June 9, 2010.

Page 2

What makes a bride happy

The drawings accompanying this statement are shout-outs to the classic comic Doraemon:

The house is the one in which Suneo lives.

The wives in the picture are, from right to left: Suneo's mom, Nobita's mom, Jian's mom.

The woman with the mirror is Suneo's mom.

Page 3:

Shimamura clothes

Shimamura is a low-cost apparel chain.

Page 4:

Newspaper stories

"Eita-san” is a reference to Eita Nagayama (27), a Japanese actor, who had announced his marriage to singer Kaela Kimura (25) soon before this chapter was published. Kaere's name in SZS is a reference to the half-British singer, who also was a TV personality when SZS originally started. However, Kaela Kimura grew up and went to school in Tokyo, so was not actually a “kikokushijo” or returnee.

"Teisupo" = Teikyô supôtsu, a non-existent newspaper often appearing in SZS (and also some other manga as well).

"He's got Ears" and "~Graduation~ Rupi" Former Prime Minister Hatoyama was called “rûpî”. When he first stated he wanted to resign, he said "All the citizens have little by little, little by little, lost their hearing ears."

"Zeksy" is a pun on actual Japanese wedding magazine, "Zekshi".

"Ikkei Shinbun", pun on the newspaper Nikkei Shinbun.

Page 7

Bachelors of the floating world

The noble bachelor uses the term “ukiyo”, which means “floating world”, and refers historically to the Edo-period leisure class lifestyle in the red-light districts of the day. His comment suggests that many of the noble bachelors were previously married…

Page 8

Buy K-ON instead

The noble bachelor’s intemperate suggestion to buy a K-ON! DVD sounds much like that of Marie Antoinette, causing otaku rage, and the reference to revolution. "Let them watch moé."

Magic User Witch Hunt

Kumetan Japan says this is a reference to the newly-proposed (and later passed) Tokyo anti-lolicon manga restriction ordinance.

Page 9

Maiasauri Shinbun

Page 10

White Tights

This also appears in Katte ni Kaizô chapter 45, in which Kaizô mentions it. I think it's a motif from some old shôjo manga, since said KK chapter in the beginning is a parody of “Oniisama e”, which was probably a reference to a still older shôjo manga. Actually this is pretty endemic in a whole genre of western-referencing period manga/anime, and must go back far enough to have traumatized Kumeta. Our guess would be this is a reference to the early-70s manga (and later 40 episode anime in 1979) the Rose of Versailles by Riyoko Ikeda.

Page 12

Wedding Convention

Most likely a reference to the Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church, which has its largest number of followers in Korea and Japan. Rev. Moon is famous for conducting mass ”wedding blessing” ceremonies of his followers, originally matched up by Moon himself. The members of the Unification Church consider Rev. Moon to be the messiah, which would make him a kami or god by Japanesestandards…and those not in the church have sometimes considered the “moonies” to be a cult which exploits its members.